New Ulm weekly review., 1887-08-17
Stock Food win Be Scarce.


Tie reports of the grass crop in near
ly every part Of the country are very
discouraging to stock-raisers. If there
is state or territory that has a full
crop of grass Or clover, OF even a near
approach to one, it is yet to be heard
from. Throughout the great stock
raising region of the west there is a
general failure of fodder crops. Grass
on the prairies that have never been
plowed is very light. Land that usu-
ally produces a ton and half of wild
hay to the acre will not produce half a
ton. The best fields are on ground re-
Gently seeded to timothy and red clo-
yer. As feed in pastures is very short,
many farmers have turned their stock
upon the land where they have been
accustomed to cut grass to turn into
hay. They have thus diminished the
area to be mown, There may be fatr
crop of wheat and oats, but the straw
of these grains is very short Many
farmers preferred to follow the advice
recently given in The Times about SOW
ing millet, but in many cases they found
their land too dry to plow, while the
price of seed was high. The prospect
is that very little millet has been ia sed.
The season has been as poor for po-
tatoes and roots as for clover and grass
Corn is represented as more promising
than could REASONABLY be expected, but
unless there is heavy rainfall within
a few days good Weld of corn tod der
or of grain will be impossible. How
to find food to keep stock over the
coming winter is the question that
nearly every farmer Is endeavoring to
answer. Many think that they will
buy fodder raised in some section Of
the country where it is abundant. The
great difficult will be in finding this
place. If it can be discovered, the
next difficult will be in obtaining gnon-
ey to buy the food. Animals are very
low in price, and hay and all the sub
stitutes for it are very high. Many
farmers are doubtless expecting to sell
a large part of their stock bat most of
them will find much trouble in doing
this. The animals are poor now on
account of the scarcity of grass and
water, and there is little on most farms
that can be used for fattening them.
Every market in the country is over
| stocked with cattle and sheep, and the
prices for theme heretofore low, are
steadily declining. To buy food for
the purpose of using it to fatten steers
| is to lose money.
Rains may come In season ito make
the fall feed in pastures tolerably good,
and to enable farmers to cut a second
crop of hay on some Of their land. In
some sections fall rye NAV be ,sown,
which will afford winter pastnrage A
few acres in flat turnips will supply a
considerable amount of food that can
be used late in the fall Still, it seems
certain that the great majority of farm
ers will find great difficulty in carrying
their stock over the coming winter.
They will find it necessary to stack all
their straw and to make the naost out
of it. They will also find it necessary
| to pay more attention to cutting up
their corn fodder at the proper time,
and to protect it from frost and storms.
Grass grown in sloughs will be worth
cutting this year, and it is likely that
cattle will be glad to get it to eat.
| Bean vines should be saved, as thev
make good food for sheep. The hand
:scythe should be used for cutting grass
that can not be secured by a mowin .
machine. The grass that grows on the
sides of the roads should all be secur-
Led
| It is likely that ffaxseed will be worth
more for feed this year than for pro-
,ducing oil. English farmers feed oil
\ cake with straw to excellent ADVANTAGES
| I'm Canada good results are reported
from feeding a mixture Of ground flax
seed, oats, and peas with cut straw,
soghum or corn fodder. In the opin-
ion of some feeders, a ton of oat straw,
and a bushel of ground faxseed and
four bushels Of ground peas or corn are
equal to a ton of the best hay.-CAica-
| go Isaaes.
1 Mete0fic Thunder.